Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:52 pmPosts: 127Location: Western New York State

To: US Federal Court of Appeals

“Congress shall make no law respecting… the right of the people … to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
-United States Constitution, First Amendment

The case of United States vs. Edward and Elaine Brown was not about income taxes. For more than a dozen years, they simply asked the Internal Revenue Service to show them the law that specifically makes them liable to pay the federal income tax, all the while stating that if the government could do so, they would gladly pay all income taxes and never question the law again. Instead, the Internal Revenue Service ignored their requests, year after year, although the Browns were constitutionally entitled to an answer. Then, in 2004, after never responding to any of the Browns’ countless requests, the Internal Revenue Service, along with a SWAT team, US Marshals, state and local police, raided Elaine’s office building and took each of the Browns, by force, into custody.

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right… to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor…”
-United States Constitution, Sixth Amendment

Elaine Brown, representing herself and her husband, Ed, hand crafted over fifty motions during the course of their trial. All legal experts who read the motions agreed that they were flawlessly written and all within the scope of the law and in accordance with established court procedures. All but a handful of the motions were denied, many without objection from the prosecution or without explanation. The Browns were not allowed witnesses, to present evidence, or to cite case law. The jury was also instructed to return a verdict based solely on whether or not the Browns paid federal income taxes or filed tax returns for the years in question. Also, the Browns were technically not charged with a crime, they were charged with two penalty clauses. No indictment ever cited a statute that showed the defendants liable to pay an income tax or file a tax return.

Due to the fact that the Browns’ constitutionally guaranteed rights were not honored, they now sit in prison, separated from each other. Their livelihood has been taken away, their property confiscated, and they have been financially destroyed. When they are finally released from prison, they will be homeless, penniless, unemployed, and in their seventies. No government employee, or public servant, has yet answered their question and showed them the law subjecting them to a federal income tax on their wages.

The Browns are being destroyed for asking a question. Furthermore, the Internal Revenue Service is illegally confiscating over three million dollars worth of property and assets for an alleged, and unproven debt of only six-hundred fifty thousand dollars. Our servant government is obligated to answer their question, but rather they locked them up and destroyed their lives. This is unacceptable.

We hereby petition the United States government, specifically the United States Federal Court of Appeals, 1 Courthouse Way, Boston, Massachusetts, to reconsider the appellate denial of Edward Lewis and Elaine Alice Brown. We also petition the United States government to cease the seizure of the Browns’ properties and assets until such time that a fair trial, as defined by the United States Constitution, can be executed.

_________________All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer
German philosopher (1788 - 1860)